Sketchers Are Never Bored…Mostly

Posted on February 16, 2014 by Larry Marshall

I’ve made the comment several times, here and elsewhere, that sketchers are never bored. When I’m sitting in a doctor’s office there are people to sketch. When I’m waiting for the car to be serviced there’s all sorts of stuff to sketch. I drew a billboard the other night while waiting to pick up my daughter. And when there’s nothing on TV I can always sketch scenes in the commercials. I’ve been known to draw pages full of lines, ellipses, and circles, too.

But I’ve been bored…REALLY bored. The flu has a way of eliminating all notion of sketching, thinking, looking, seeing, and about the best I could do over the past few days has been to sit and become over-dosed on Olympics coverage.

Today the residual ‘tuckered out’ feeling was all that remained of my bout with a gaggle of viruses and I wasn’t going to let that stop me. I headed to the museum to meet up with Yvan for a sketching session. I’m afraid I’m still a bit less than optimal but I managed this sketch. There is an 1898 Renault Mini-Car on display and while I have to get around to the front of it for a sketch, I just love this view from the rear as it shows off its red running gear.

Stillman & Birn Zeta (6x9), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Zeta (6×9), Pilot Prera, Lexington Gray

Never Ask A Sketcher What Is It?

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Anyone who is a parent has faced the uncertainty of responding to a young child’s beaming face as she looks up, waving a paper in the air and says, “Mommy, look what I made.” The parent looks at the blob of color on the paper. They note a roundish form, drawn in gray, four projections and some scribbles on top where a head might be. Is it an elephant? A cat? Or is it me? Only parents can properly negotiate that mine field.

And so it goes with sketchers, but with less delicacy I’m afraid. When I brought my latest sketch home my Quebecois wife said, as she always does, “C’est beau,” but this time with puzzlement on her face. Then, something she would never do when our daughter was growing up she blurted, “What the heck is it?”

My daughter came into the room, looked at the sketch and said, without any fanfare, “What is that thing?” Obviously she has learned nothing from the finesse with which we greeted vague forms made from little hands with the best that Crayola had to offer.

In this case, however, maybe I can forgive them. It’s not something you see every day – or ever for that matter. We don’t make stuff this elegant anymore. But back at the turn of the 19th Century, those promoting the idea of subways felt the need to make them look spectacular because, for most people, the thought of going underground was, well, creepy. This cast iron beauty is an entry gate from the 1900 Paris subway.

The sketch was done at the Musée de la Civilisation museum, in the Paris exhibit. Eighty-six of these gates were made. I’d hate to have to draw all of them. One was enough to generate smoke from my ears.

Stillman & Birn Zeta (6x9), Pilot Prera, Noodler's Lexington Gray

Stillman & Birn Zeta (6×9), Pilot Prera, Noodler’s Lexington Gray

A Walk With The Gods

Posted on January 19, 2014 by Larry Marshall

The search for places to sketch in winter is continual here in Quebec City, so when Yvan said “Why don’t we go to Pavillion Laurentienne to sketch?” everyone immediately responded with “Sure!” Only later did we ask “What is Pavillion Laurentienne and what can we sketch there?”

Pavillion Laurentienne, as it turns out, is a relatively new building on the Université Laval campus. It’s used for conferences and larger meetings. What’s interesting about it is that it’s got a very large lobby area with a bunch of large plaster casts of statues that live in Europe somewhere. Another way of looking at them is that they’re big white naked people, though one of them, out of modesty no doubt. has a small sheep wrapped around his shoulders.

Yvan got permission for our motley crew to show up today to sketch. Sunday is certainly the day to go as except for the security guard, we were there alone, hanging out with the white naked people. It was a very meditative atmosphere.

Here’s a loose sketch of part of the lobby area. I did all these sketches on Canson Ingres papers that seems ideal for pen and ink drawing, though it’s too thin for watercolor.

Sketching statues is certainly not my forté but I sure had fun today. This guy’s name is Marcellus, though he and I never had a real conversation. His neck isn’t really that long – I was being “artistic,” I guess (grin).

I was getting a bit tired at this point, so I had some coffee and some great conversation. I decided to draw an arm and, I’m afraid, I worked one beat too fast and the poor guy’s hand looks like it went through a meat grinder, though in this case I guess it would have to be a plaster grinder. In any case, the result left something to be desired, as did my second, hand attempt. I guess I was just tired from trying to keep my gut sucked in around these well-muscled white guys.

All of these sketches were done with a Pilot Prera with either J.Herbin Lie de thé or Noodlers Lexington Gray ink. As we left for the day most of us agreed that we’d have to come back.

Sketching The January Thaw

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Like much of North America, we experienced very cold temperatures for a few days. Following that, however, we’ve experienced weather that made it seem like May here in Quebec City. It rained, it got warmer (40F a couple days). Excepting this has turned all of Quebec City into a lumpy skating rink, it’s been wonderful.

I was supposed to meet Claudette at a cafe for our weekly sketching session and I arrived about 10-15 minutes ahead of her. Rather than going inside, I found a place to stand out of the light rain that was falling and drew the exterior of the cafe. When she arrived we went inside and I added color to my sketch and added some other ‘stuff’ to the page. Done in a Stillman & Birn Alpha (4×6) with a Pilot Prera.

While Claudette was finishing up a sketch I looked outside and saw this lonely street lamp, its feet stuck in heavy, dirty snow and it’s head bent over as a response to the rain. It seemed so forlorn so I sketched it. This was done in my el cheapo 3×5 notebook.

We finished up and Claudette and I headed off in different directions. I walked down St. Jean street, heading towards the old city and it was wonderful. The rain had become nearly a mist and it was warm enough that I could actually remove my gloves. I saw that as a ‘sign’ and as I walked past this building, with its amazing roof, I ducked into a little alcove out of the rain and did this quick sketch of it in my S&B Alpha (4×6). I added the color to this little sketch when I got home but, for me, this sketch was pretty special as the winter cold has prevented me from sketching outdoors. It was, indeed, a great day.

Sketching Quebec’s Past

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Larry Marshall

Our Musée de la Civilisation has a permanent exhibit of Quebec artifacts. They are organized roughly along the lines of Quebec’s history, starting with the results of archeological digs and then progessing through 400 years of its history. Celine Dion is somewhere near the end of the exhibit.

I thought it might be fun to sketch a few of these antiquités and this is the result. Done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta (6×9) using a Pilot Prera (Platinum Carbon Black) and a Wahl-Eversharp flex nib pen (Noodler’s Lexington Gray).